Sarah-Jane Bayram, 43, died in a skydiving accident on March 10 off Muriwai Beach.
An Auckland skydiving company has entered an 11th-hour guilty plea after the death of a British skydiver blown more than 1km out to sea after a catastrophic mid-air collision.
Sarah-Jane Bayram died on March 10, 2022 when a nine-person “speed star” formation jump over Muriwai Beach, northwest of Auckland, went horribly wrong.
A Herald investigation after the accident revealed Bayram, 43, had expressed concern about the wind conditions shortly before boarding the Skydive Auckland flight at Parakai. Two other skydivers declined to jump, also citing the easterly breeze.
Senior parachutists said at the time they believed a rescue boat should have been on standby for the sunset beach jump, as the contingency may have saved Bayram’s life.
A year after the accident, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) filed two charges against Skydive Auckland Ltd, and two against the company’s director, Tony Green.
The charges were laid under the Health and Safety at Work Act, and Civil Aviation Act.
The most serious charges carried a maximum fine of $1.5 million for a company or $300,000 for an individual.
Skydive Auckland was also issued a safety improvement notice by the regulator, requiring it to ensure standby rescue craft were in place for any future jumps over or near water, and that parachutists were “competent” swimmers.
At the time, Green said: “Skydive Auckland broke no rules, no regulations and did nothing outside its mandate on that jump and they know that”.
The case was set to go to trial yesterday in North Shore District Court.
However, the Herald has confirmed the company entered a guilty plea to one charge last week.
A CAA spokeswoman said Skydive Auckland had pleaded guilty to an offence under the Civil Aviation Act, which carried a maximum penalty of $100,000. The company would be sentenced in July.
Green told the Herald before he and Skydive Auckland were due to appear in court and defend all the charges against them, the CAA offered a plea deal, which led to the charges against him being withdrawn.
He said the Health and Safety at Work Act charges against Skydive Auckland were also withdrawn, leaving one Civil Aviation Act charge against the company.
“The decision to plead guilty to this one charge is due to a number of factors,” he told the Herald.
“Sorry but no further information can be supplied until after sentencing is complete.”
A close friend of Bayram was shocked at the “out of the blue” development.
She hoped lessons had been learned to ensure the tragedy was never repeated.
“But it’s a tough outcome for everyone involved.”
Not having a trial would spare Bayram’s family the pain of reliving what had happened, she said.
After the charges were laid in 2023, Green said he was disappointed that after a year of working closely with CAA and providing every possible piece of information, “to date I don’t even know how Sarah-Jane died”.
“It’s been a one-way street of information and not a shred of information has been given our way about what really happened.
“It’s disappointing that a year later there’s a skydiving community that wants information but there’s none to give.
“If there were any improvements that could be made, they want to know about it, but the reality is it could be another year or two until they get it.”
Green said during discussions with CAA investigators, they’d acknowledged that no rules or regulations had been broken.
He said it was incumbent on the authority to share any information from the accident that could help save lives.
“It’s meant to be a safety authority that is there to improve safety, but that’s not happening.”
Rescuers who raced to Bayram’s aid on a jetski after she was blown out to sea said she was purple, foaming from the nose and mouth, and appeared to have aspirated water as they performed CPR.
Bayram’s grieving father Andrew told the Herald she loved the high-risk sport and often spoke of the spectacular views.
He was still “shell-shocked” and just beginning to process her death, he said weeks after the accident.
“Each day blends into another. The more you think about it the more you remember.
“I suppose it could have been avoided, no doubt. We’ll just have to wait for things to take their course.”
The death was the third in three years linked to the Parakai-based skydiving and training operation - all involving recent graduates of the New Zealand Skydiving School.
Irish national Jack Creane, 27, died in March 2019 after crash-landing at Parakai shortly after graduating from the skydiving school.
Theo Williams, 21, died in March 2021 after a hard landing in Tauranga. He had trained at Parakai and recently graduated.
And Bayram died in March 2022. The young man involved in the collision with her at more than 200km/h was also a recent graduate.
After the Herald’s coverage, the CAA launched an investigation into the skydiving industry, citing “concerning trends” that required “further investigation”.
The watchdog said it was “actively monitoring the sector” and promised to utilise all available regulatory tools, including prosecution.
Green defended the company’s safety record after Bayram’s accident and said there was only a “one in a million chance of death” from parachuting.
He said the three fatalities all involved certified parachutists who were responsible for observing aviation safety rules.
Green expected skydiving operators would review protocols around beach landings and water jumps in light of the Muriwai tragedy.
“I probably won’t entertain beach jumps again.”
One of the skydivers who refused to jump on the day of the accident was a good friend of Bayram
“It was windy, blowing offshore. If something goes wrong, you’re going to be blown out to sea”.
She was surprised no rescue boat had been arranged, or surf lifesavers alerted.
In 2022, the CAA said there was no such requirement for recreational beach landings, unless participants intended to land in water.
But sources claimed standby rescue boats were best practice for descents into or near open water and common at some dropzones.
A skydiver with years of experience said training was critical in the high-risk sport.
“It’s an environment that does not bode well if you make mistakes.”
Lane Nichols is Auckland desk editor for the New Zealand Herald with more than 20 years’ experience in the industry.